Ministers 'confident' no more Covid curbs needed in England as case growth slows

 Ministers are 'quietly confident' that further Covid restrictions in England can be avoided and say there is 'nothing' in the data to suggest they will be needed despite the recent surge in cases driven by the Omicron variant.

The UK recorded 137,583 new Covid infections yesterday, a week-on-week increase of 14.7% which is lower than over the preceding days.

However data from Scotland was omitted from that total and Scots were today warned that April could be 'too early' to be planning large parties in a sign that Nicola Sturgeon's tougher Covid rules could be extended for months. 

Ministers will review the plan B measures and travel testing requirements this week, and while many restrictions are expected to remain in place, a senior government source told the Times that pre-departure tests could soon be scrapped. 

Growth in Covid hospitalisations in London - seen as a leading indicator of what may happen in the rest of the country - slowed in the run-up to New Year, new official figures revealed yesterday, although holiday reporting glitches could be affecting the total.

There were 319 patients admitted to hospital in London on December 31, a 14 per cent rise on the same day a week before, and 450 on 30 December which is a 15 per cent rise week-on-week.

While a holiday effect may be artificially keeping those numbers low, the rate of increase is well behind the days before that saw a 32% increase on December 29 to 511 admissions.

Edward Argar, a minister at the Department of Health and Social Care, said he was 'seeing nothing at the moment in the data right in front of me in the immediate situation that suggests a need for further restrictions'.

'We need cool, calm heads,' Argar said in an interview with Times Radio. 'We need to look at the data and we need to do everything possible to avoid any restrictions.' 

Meanwhile, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Steve Barclay said that an uptake in testing showed that 'the British public are taking sensible steps to keep themselves safe'.

'We've seen significant behaviour change as a result of Plan B. That's why there has been such a demand for testing in recent weeks,' he said.

'That, combined with the booster programme, is the key way as a country that we will avoid the need for further measures.' 

In other Covid developments:

• The Education Secretary said entire classes may need to be merged into larger groups or sent home to work remotely due to teacher absences caused by coronavirus 
• Fewer Covid patients in hospital are relying on ventilation compared to previous peaks during the pandemic, it has been revealed 
• Britain's streets may soon be littered with rubbish after bin collections were cancelled across the country in the face of severe staff shortages

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10363189/Ministers-confident-NO-Covid-curbs-needed-England-Scots-face-fun-ban-SPRING.html